Reading My Heart

[Verse 1] When I was very small I thought you had a gift A kind of magic only mothers had You'd see right through me, know what I was thinking You'd know if I was happy, scared, or sad [Chorus] I thought that you could read my mind But Mom, you read my heart instead You knew the words I couldn't find And every quiet thing I never said You weren't reading my mind — You were reading my heart [Verse 2 — patter] You told me I could be most anything I'd choose A scientist, a poet, or a chef Just please — not a politician or a bowler You said it half in earnest, half in jest You doubled every sauce a recipe demanded You made green eggs and ham one Tuesday night You hid an egg inside my milkshake when I worried — And somehow all of that turned out alright [Verse 3] We took a class and learned to juggle, you and me Tossing pins between us through the air And looking back, that was the two of us exactly: Catch what's tossed, and toss it back with care You taped The Velveteen Rabbit, every page, So I could press play and pretend you were near And isn't that what every song is trying to do — Keep a voice you love forever in your ear [Chorus — short] I thought that you could read my mind But Mom, you read my heart instead You weren't reading my mind — You were reading my heart [Bridge] You handed down your paintbrush and your eye for color You handed down a love of words and rhyme And yes — you handed down the weight you carry sometimes The shadow I'll be walking with through time But shadows only fall where there is light, Mom And there was so much light in everything you'd do The brightness and the dark — I take them both together Whatever I became, I got from you [Verse 4 — patter] You sent Dad off to have the strangest talk one summer — A subject I had not foreseen You sat through The Grifters with me — God, what were we thinking? — You'd always slip me sips of Kahlua and cream You made some phone calls, somehow got us in a movie — Die Harder, in the snow, the final scene You couldn't make me a director, But God, you made a dreamer out of this teen [Verse 5] You and Dad tried pot once, just to see — and spent the evening Convinced you'd both been failing as parents all along The fact that's what you worried about, Mom — that's the proof That you'd been getting everything exactly right all along You heard "the cross-eyed bear"; I heard "no one" built the ark We come from a long line of getting lyrics wrong And maybe that's the gift — to love a song so much You make a stranger, sweeter, truer song [Final Chorus] You weren't reading my mind, Mom You were reading every part of me You taught me how to laugh, how to grieve, How to make a thing and let it leave You weren't reading my mind — You were reading my heart And everything I have to give this world Began with you, right from the start